What better way for a father and son to spend the Thanksgiving weekend together than to build a robot out of a tin can and an Arduino. As far as robots go, this little autonomous aluminum can seeks out light and moves in the direction of it. The creator cleverly refers to this as a “flashlight leash.”

With an Arduino, a light sensor and a lower power DC motor, making your own light-seeking robot shouldn’t be too difficult of a task. With your kid helping you, who knows what you could accomplish?

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Getting excited about garbage can be hard. Take Li Jianye’s Flexibin, an extremely simple trash can design that is made up of a single bent wire. Your trash bag easily stays in the center and the way it ends up looking really depends on you. Using a shitty bag from the deli? Your Flexibin is going to reflect that. Great concept. I’d like to see it come to fruition and go to production. Keep the price point under $15 and you have a hit IKEA product.

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After taking a good look at Johan De Broyer’s Soda Seal, I have to say I’m impressed. Time after time, soda cans are usually littered about the house, sometimes half-full. Rather than let them sit around and become flat, the Soda Seal would cut back on wasted soda and that’s always a good thing.

The device isn’t intended to be added to cans by users but rather is supposed to be included on the can from the manufacturer. You crack a can, drink some soda and when you want to reseal it, you just twist the tab around and on slides the seal. De Broyer even points out that you could advertise on the seal. What do you think? Useful application or utter crap?

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